Obama, not his party, embraces compromise

We've all heard about the absence of compromise in Washington over a host of issues -- including deficit reduction and gun control.

Republicans have received most of the criticism for the congressional gridlock, especially those tea-party purists who equate give-and-take with capitulation.

But like the cherry blossoms, hope -- while not eternal -- can still bloom in our nation's capital, as Democrat advocates of gun control have discovered.

The Senate is seriously considering legislation after two leading conservatives, Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., proposed a less restrictive proposal on federal background checks, requiring them for gun shows and online transactions but exempting noncommercial, personal transactions.

That's called compromise. It's certainly not what the most ardent advocates want, but it's obviously something that will rile the NRA lobby.

Yes, for the most part, everybody gets something, but no one gets everything. It's the way Congress used to do business, before ideology supplanted practicality.

While it has been obvious to us that Democrats are also expert practitioners of "my way or the beltway," the Obama administration has been quite adept at keeping that focus on the opposition.

That is until the president unveiled his proposed federal budget, which includes a slowing of social-program benefits and increased taxes on corporations and the highest earners.

Republicans have told the president he can't tax his way to a budget-reduction solution.

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Unsustainable Social Security and Medicare payments also have to be reined in.

Well, the president did that by proposing to change the way increases in these programs are figured by using a slightly less generous version of the Consumer Price Index. Yes, it will reduce the rise of benefits but not cut them, as our senator, Elizabeth Warren, has decried.

Of course, she was joined by a host of her Democratic colleagues -- including the entire Massachusetts delegation -- in denouncing the president's heartless proposal.

So Obama's measured response, which just scratches the surface of the biggest federal budget-busters, was met with disdain by an overwhelming number of his own party.

We don't know where the president's initiative will lead, but we do know if it goes nowhere, he'll have his uncompromising Democrats to blame.

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